U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,156 which issued to Kuhler in 1980 discloses a live poultry conveying system. This system consists of a plurality of conveyor sections which extend into a darkened chicken house. Fowl sitting quietly on the floor of the darkened chicken house are placed on the conveyor and are conveyed through a zone darkened by cover to a crating area. At the crating area they are placed into large coops, with each coop containing approximately eighteen fowl. The coops are then sent via a conveyor belt into a transport vehicle.
A poultry conveying system, as described in the Kuhler reference, is predicated upon the fowl remaining inactive during handling. The fact is that fowl do not remain inactive. If placed upon a slow moving conveyor the fowl sense the motion and a large proportion tend to walk backwards on the conveyor causing congestion or jump off the conveyor altogether. As well, the poultry conveying system as taught by Kuhler does not meet the needs of industry. In order to make money persons engaged in the loading and hauling of live poultry must be able to load 7000 to 8000 birds within a time duration of less than two hours. This requires the conveyor belt to be moving at speeds of approximately 4 feet per second. At such conveyor speeds fowl have a tendency to roll on the conveyor belt, becoming bruised and damaged.